The rough fabric of my cotton nightgown chafes so I lie very still. They say my discomfort comes from being built like one accustomed to niceties. How is that fair when I myself have never experienced anything but copies of the real thing?

When seventeen-year-old Ashley Watson walks through the halls of her high school bullies taunt and shove her. She can’t go a day without fighting with her mother. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t make her best friend, Matt, fall in love with her. But Ashley also has something no one else does: a literal glimpse into the future. When Ashley looks into the mirror, she can see her twenty-three-year-old self.

Her older self has been through it all already—she endured the bullying, survived the heartbreak, and heard every ugly word her classmates threw at her. But her older self is also keeping a dark secret: Something terrible is about to happen to Ashley. Something that will change her life forever. Something even her older self is powerless to stop.

From the Hugo Award-winning duo of Brian K. Vaughan (The Private Eye, Y: The Last Man) and Fiona Staples (North 40, Red Sonja), Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. Searching for their literary hero, new parents Marko and Alana travel to a cosmic lighthouse on the planet Quietus, while the couple's multiple pursuers finally close in on their targets.

Here at Reads By Amanda, we love authors. How could you not? From our favorite series, books, moments, scenes and characters, there's a writer who created all those moments and decided it had to be written down and shared with the world.
Click on to see my spotlight on Tracy E. Banghart!

From award-winning writer BRIAN K. VAUGHAN (Pride of Baghdad, Ex Machina) and critically acclaimed artist FIONA STAPLES (Mystery Society, Done to Death), SAGA is sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and horrific monsters, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters her strangest adventure yet... grandparents.

When MAC announced that they were going to launch a lipstick with Lorde, I was stoked. I love Lorde's witchy, almost gothic style (not to mention her music is flawless) and I love a good purple lip.
Although I'm disappointed that the extent of the MAC x Lorde collection is this lipstick and an eyeliner, Pure Heroine ($16) is an absolutely stunning lipstick.

Here at Reads By Amanda, we love authors. How could you not? From our favorite series, books, moments, scenes and characters, there's a writer who created all those moments and decided it had to be written down and shared with the world.
Click on to read my interview with Chris Gill!

Imagine a world where natural light is a distant memory. A world where the day and night system is imitated by the government to help society’s sleeping patterns, and where artificial rain is released to help crops grow. This is the world Red has known for the last decade.

The United Underworld, or The Shell as it’s dubbed by its inhabitants, is a world that was built along the earth’s seabed in case global disaster ever occurred. So when the meteorite came hurtling towards the planet in 2105, Lord Ivan Spencer and his regime already had everything in place for the people of England to be transported to their new home under the ocean, Subdon.

Red, a 19-year-old girl with a feisty streak as vibrant as her long fiery locks, feels like the only person in The Shell who distrusts the system. After her father, who had worked for the government for many years himself, mysteriously died when she was nine; she began to ask questions. Then, once she lost her mother on the Day of Judgment after she was accidentally left in the Old World – Red’s questions turned to anger and resentment.

Questions like: why is the government taking so long rebuilding the New World above the ground? Why are the Authorities never around when you need them, particularly as The Shell has become such a dismal and dangerous place to live? And will she, and the rest of humanity, ever escape the bleakness of The Shell and feel fresh air again?

In the first part of Chris Gill's debut novel, Shell, we get to know the fiery heroine who yearns for escape. We also meet the people she holds dear to her heart, and the people she doesn’t. We travel through the dark and dingy depths of the United Underworld, experiencing the claustrophobic dystopia that would have anyone yearning for escape, and for the warm rays of sunshine...

Welcome!

Welcome!

Book lover and beauty addict. Night owl extraordinaire. Join one girl’s adventure in trying to do ALL OF THE THINGS good and bad in an effort to find enlightenment and meaning. Or just fangirling opportunities.